by Ben Summerton Preparation time: 30mins Cooking time: 1.5 - 2 hours (vegetarian), up to 3.5 hours (meat) Tips: Make the day before. This improves with time in the fridge Ingredients, unless indicated, can be bought locally, from wherever. Otherwise, go to 'Where to buy stuff from'.
This is one of those Saturday afternoon, hang around the apartment with some mates and drink beer type recipes (big shout out to Kevin Jaramillo and Lloyd Clarke who have taken the Seoul Curry journey with me). If I had the discipline though (which I've never had), I'd make it one day in advance because the flavours, already dense and rich, just keep improving. Anyway, I always like to throw together some Indian side dishes to go with this, which you have time to do because a lot of the time, everything is just happening in the oven.
Yes, you need an oven! You also need a casserole dish (I have a 25L pyrex one which I bought from E-Mart for 30,000W). It's handy to have a thick-bottom saucepan of around this size (again, E-mart has this sort of thing), but any saucepan will do really. I also list the use of 'seeds' in the ingredients list. Only use seeds if you have a mortar and pestle. I didn't bring mine to Seoul, so I make do with the 'ground' stuff.
This makes for a great lamb, beef, goat or pork curry, but it also works well as a chicken or vegetarian curry too.
Ingredients
3 onions - rough chop
6 garlic cloves - finely sliced, diced or crushed
2-3 red chillies - finely sliced (keep the seeds, this curry mellows out a bit)
5cm piece of galangal (ginger) - shredded
1 bunch fresh coriander (cilantro) - AK Plaza food plaza
1 fresh lime (lemon if not available)
2 cans diced tomatoes
vegetable oil
2 tbsp cumin (ground/seeds) - i love cookie
2 tbsp coriander seeds (ground/seeds) - i love cookie
1 tbsp fennel seeds - i love cookie
1/2 tspn fenugreek seeds
1-2 cloves - i love cookie
1 stick cinnamon (or 1 tbsp ground) - i love cookie
generous cracks of salt and pepper
3 cups stock (veg or chicken)
small knob of butter, enough to coat the bottom of your saucepan
1/2 cup yoghurt - optional - Itaewon Foreign Food Mart
750g or chicken, beef, assorted vegetables, lentils...whatever really. - Cosco for meat!
Note: If you're missing a few (which is quite likely as 'cookie' turn their stock over regularly, just throw in a teaspoon of curry powder to sort of make up for it. I do this and it works well).
Method
Stage 1
In a frying pan, dry fry your spices (except the cinnamon stick). This wont take long, just keep an eye on the colour. When things start to darken a little, you're done. In any case, remove from heat when the kitchen starts to fill with spicy fragrance! Grind it all up into a powder.
If using pre-ground spices though, do the same as the above, except include the ground cinnamon and fry only for about 1 minute. It should really start to smell beautiful.
Stage 2
In a (heavy-based) saucepan, melt the butter and add your onions. Cover and cook on low temperature, stirring occasionally, for about 15mins. Remove cover, crank the heat up a little, and add the garlic, ginger and chilli. Cook for a few minutes, then add your spice mix (along with the cinnamon stick if applicable). Take care not to let everything get too dry, as the spice mix will soak up the moisture you have in the pan. Add a few drop of water if this occurs (it is likely you will need to). After another 2-3 minutes, add your tomatoes, season generously and cook for about 5 minutes. If you have some dry red wine handy, this goes down a treat at this stage too (some for the cook, some for the pot). Now add your stock, cover and bring to a boil. When it reaches this, transfer to the oven (you'll need your casserole dish for this) and leave it alone for about an hour and a half (keeping it on . This is your basic curry sauce, and by leaving it the flavours really intensify.(Note: if pressed for time, you can of course drop this back a little and leave to simmer for 45 minutes...but going the distance does pay off)
Stage 3
As you're time in the oven
a) Beef, Lamb, Pork, Goat or Chicken Curry
This is my favourite! What I do at this stage is to dice up the meat fillet into large chunks and then chuck into a well heated frying pan to quickly brown on all sides. Remember, we're just 'sealing' the meat, not cooking it all the way through. Add to the curry sauce and stir it in.
Time in oven: beef and goat (1.5 hours); lamb and pork (1 hour); chicken (45 mins)
b) Vegetable Curry
You can be quite creative with this and use just about anything. I favour a potato base for a veg curry, with a combination of potato and sweet potato working a real treat. You can then add in other stuff, like eggplant, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots etc etc. Your cookie time will depend on what you use, so just use your judgement with whatever ingredients you happen to use. Note: in most 'meat' based curries I also like to include vegetables, which I add in progressively towards the end of the cook time.
c) Lentils, Chickpeas, Red and/or Cannelini beans
These work well with all of the above. I wouldn't add any more than 1/2 a cup of lentils though otherwise the sauce may thicken too much. (lentils and chickpeas are a bit hard to come by in Seoul though (if keen, head to ilovecookie or Itaewon Foreign Food Mart)
Stage 4
Your curry is now finished and it is therefore time to serve up! Because of the dense and rich flavours of the curry, I like to add a fresh 'zing' to the curry, which I do by adding in the lime juice, two-thirds of your fresh coriander and yoghurt. If you ever happen upon any fresh mint, this would go down a treat at his stage too, but good luck with this in Seoul! Serve on top of some coconut rice, with the reserved coriander...and if you get around to it, some lightly toasted cashews work well on top of this.
Serve with (suggestions): Coconut Rice Chipatti Bread (also known as 'Roti' bread) Raita (garlic yoghurt)
Mango and Pineapple Chutney
Seoul Curry
by Ben SummertonPreparation time: 30mins
Cooking time: 1.5 - 2 hours (vegetarian), up to 3.5 hours (meat)
Tips: Make the day before. This improves with time in the fridge
Ingredients, unless indicated, can be bought locally, from wherever. Otherwise, go to 'Where to buy stuff from'.
This is one of those Saturday afternoon, hang around the apartment with some mates and drink beer type recipes (big shout out to Kevin Jaramillo and Lloyd Clarke who have taken the Seoul Curry journey with me). If I had the discipline though (which I've never had), I'd make it one day in advance because the flavours, already dense and rich, just keep improving. Anyway, I always like to throw together some Indian side dishes to go with this, which you have time to do because a lot of the time, everything is just happening in the oven.
Yes, you need an oven! You also need a casserole dish (I have a 25L pyrex one which I bought from E-Mart for 30,000W). It's handy to have a thick-bottom saucepan of around this size (again, E-mart has this sort of thing), but any saucepan will do really. I also list the use of 'seeds' in the ingredients list. Only use seeds if you have a mortar and pestle. I didn't bring mine to Seoul, so I make do with the 'ground' stuff.
This makes for a great lamb, beef, goat or pork curry, but it also works well as a chicken or vegetarian curry too.
Ingredients
3 onions - rough chop
6 garlic cloves - finely sliced, diced or crushed
2-3 red chillies - finely sliced (keep the seeds, this curry mellows out a bit)
5cm piece of galangal (ginger) - shredded
1 bunch fresh coriander (cilantro) - AK Plaza food plaza
1 fresh lime (lemon if not available)
2 cans diced tomatoes
vegetable oil
2 tbsp cumin (ground/seeds) - i love cookie
2 tbsp coriander seeds (ground/seeds) - i love cookie
1 tbsp fennel seeds - i love cookie
1/2 tspn fenugreek seeds
1-2 cloves - i love cookie
1 stick cinnamon (or 1 tbsp ground) - i love cookie
generous cracks of salt and pepper
3 cups stock (veg or chicken)
small knob of butter, enough to coat the bottom of your saucepan
1/2 cup yoghurt - optional - Itaewon Foreign Food Mart
750g or chicken, beef, assorted vegetables, lentils...whatever really. - Cosco for meat!
Note: If you're missing a few (which is quite likely as 'cookie' turn their stock over regularly, just throw in a teaspoon of curry powder to sort of make up for it. I do this and it works well).
Method
Stage 1
In a frying pan, dry fry your spices (except the cinnamon stick). This wont take long, just keep an eye on the colour. When things start to darken a little, you're done. In any case, remove from heat when the kitchen starts to fill with spicy fragrance! Grind it all up into a powder.
If using pre-ground spices though, do the same as the above, except include the ground cinnamon and fry only for about 1 minute. It should really start to smell beautiful.
Stage 2
In a (heavy-based) saucepan, melt the butter and add your onions. Cover and cook on low temperature, stirring occasionally, for about 15mins. Remove cover, crank the heat up a little, and add the garlic, ginger and chilli. Cook for a few minutes, then add your spice mix (along with the cinnamon stick if applicable). Take care not to let everything get too dry, as the spice mix will soak up the moisture you have in the pan. Add a few drop of water if this occurs (it is likely you will need to). After another 2-3 minutes, add your tomatoes, season generously and cook for about 5 minutes. If you have some dry red wine handy, this goes down a treat at this stage too (some for the cook, some for the pot). Now add your stock, cover and bring to a boil. When it reaches this, transfer to the oven (you'll need your casserole dish for this) and leave it alone for about an hour and a half (keeping it on . This is your basic curry sauce, and by leaving it the flavours really intensify.(Note: if pressed for time, you can of course drop this back a little and leave to simmer for 45 minutes...but going the distance does pay off)
Stage 3
As you're time in the oven
a) Beef, Lamb, Pork, Goat or Chicken Curry
This is my favourite! What I do at this stage is to dice up the meat fillet into large chunks and then chuck into a well heated frying pan to quickly brown on all sides. Remember, we're just 'sealing' the meat, not cooking it all the way through. Add to the curry sauce and stir it in.
Time in oven: beef and goat (1.5 hours); lamb and pork (1 hour); chicken (45 mins)
b) Vegetable Curry
You can be quite creative with this and use just about anything. I favour a potato base for a veg curry, with a combination of potato and sweet potato working a real treat. You can then add in other stuff, like eggplant, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots etc etc. Your cookie time will depend on what you use, so just use your judgement with whatever ingredients you happen to use. Note: in most 'meat' based curries I also like to include vegetables, which I add in progressively towards the end of the cook time.
c) Lentils, Chickpeas, Red and/or Cannelini beans
These work well with all of the above. I wouldn't add any more than 1/2 a cup of lentils though otherwise the sauce may thicken too much. (lentils and chickpeas are a bit hard to come by in Seoul though (if keen, head to ilovecookie or Itaewon Foreign Food Mart)
Stage 4
Your curry is now finished and it is therefore time to serve up! Because of the dense and rich flavours of the curry, I like to add a fresh 'zing' to the curry, which I do by adding in the lime juice, two-thirds of your fresh coriander and yoghurt. If you ever happen upon any fresh mint, this would go down a treat at his stage too, but good luck with this in Seoul! Serve on top of some coconut rice, with the reserved coriander...and if you get around to it, some lightly toasted cashews work well on top of this.
Serve with (suggestions):
Coconut Rice
Chipatti Bread (also known as 'Roti' bread)
Raita (garlic yoghurt)
Mango and Pineapple Chutney
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